Atlanta businessman, former Lions player slapped with $9.5M in penalties after Pontiac, Detroit pension losses

Atlanta businessman Roy Dixon Jr. and former Detroit Lions player Michael Farr have been ordered to pay $9.5 million in penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission after being accused of defrauding the Pontiac General Employees Retirement System and two Detroit pension funds.

The retirement systems lost a collective $23.8 million after the failure of Dixon’s private equity firm, Onyx Capital Advisers, which invested in Farr’s used car business, Second Chance Motors.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood’s Jan. 31 order hits Dixon and Onyx Capital Advisers with a $3.1 million civil penalty and $3.1 million in disgorgement, or surrender of ill-gotten gains. Farr was assessed a $1 million civil penalty and $2.3 million in disgorgement.

“I think, for us, one of the central issues has been that Dixon was given the public trust by the pension funds and he violated that trust,” said Anne McKinley, an assistant director at the SEC’s Chicago office. The agency filed the civil suit against Dixon and Farr in 2010.

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Both men used Onyx Capital Advisers funds for personal use, the federal agency alleged, including more than $500,000 that went toward the construction of Dixon’s $8 million, 12,000-square-foot Atlanta home.

Beasley is charged with accepting more than $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks “from Dixon and others having business before the two (Detroit) pension funds,” the district attorney’s office said, as well as accepting a family vacation to the Turks and Caicos Islands from Dixon.

The ex-treasurer also is accused of demanding contributions to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s Kilpatrick Civic Fund in return for favorable investment decisions by the pension funds.

The indictment claims Dixon and his business partners contributed $45,000 to the Kilpatrick Civic Fund.

Dixon has said in court filings that he was extorted, and has moved to be tried separately from his codefendants. The motion is scheduled to be heard March 3.

If convicted of the felony charges, Dixon could face a maximum 20-year prison sentence, a fine of up to $250,000 and a $3 million forfeiture. He’s also a defendant in a civil suit brought by the three pension funds.

Several Pontiac trustees flew to the Turks and Caicos with Dixon to look at a potential real estate investment before later investing in Onyx Capital Advisers.

About the Author

I cover the City of Pontiac, as well as the northern Oakland County communities of Brandon Township, the Village of Ortonville, Springfield Township and Groveland Township. Reach the author at dustin.blitchok@oakpress.com
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